At today's Committee of the Whole meeting, Newmarket Council is reviewing user fees, licensing, and other ancillary revenue sources for the Town.
That, in itself, isn't news. Under the "leadership" of the gruesome twosome taxes and other fees have gone up,up and up for each year they've been in elected office.
And guess what? It is safe to predict that they'll go up again next year and the year after that too.
If overburdened Newmarket residents can ever hope to see tax relief, they will have to elect new leadership who actually gives a damn about fiscal management.
What is "news" is that Council is going ahead with reviewing these hikes without the input of any representative of Ward 5.
What's the rush?
Why isn't Council waiting just a short six weeks until the new Council member is elected in order to ensure that there is no taxation without representation?
Could this rush to get these new hikes through (with what I expect will be little or no debate) be a sign that the incumbent powers on Council are concerned about the outcome of the by-election?
Lord know that Council is very good at deferring issues. Asking for a deferral is a regular occurrence at Council. I would suggest that Council should wait the six weeks to hike user fees and licensing costs in order that all Wards are represented.
Monday 29 August 2016
Saturday 6 August 2016
The Burden of Real Estate Agents Sitting on Newmarket Town Council
I never accepted former Councillor Joe Sponga's explanation of why he quit his Council seat just 17 months into his term. The idea of a potential law suit or code of conduct complaint running him out of office just seemed preposterous. It seemed to me that Sponga was simply seeking attention with his "Woe is me" act. How sad for him.
Now we know the truth.
Sponga has recently updated his Linked-In page to show that he is now a real estate agent. It seems obvious that Sponga was concerned with the inherent conflict of interests that will present themselves between that profession and his duties on council. He couldn't serve his constituents if he was always being forced to declare a conflict of interest (by having a listing in the area or a potential sale in the area, and so on).
In the Ward 5 By Election, there are a few candidates who are real estate agents or studying to become real estate agents. These candidates need to explain to voters now how they will attempt to balance their profession and their council responsibilities.
If a Council member is declaring a conflict of interest on a significant percentage of Council votes, then what use is there in this person occupying a Council seat? It would be better to follow Sponga's example and step aside, allowing an unencumbered representative to do the job representing constituents on each and every issue before the Council.
Now we know the truth.
Sponga has recently updated his Linked-In page to show that he is now a real estate agent. It seems obvious that Sponga was concerned with the inherent conflict of interests that will present themselves between that profession and his duties on council. He couldn't serve his constituents if he was always being forced to declare a conflict of interest (by having a listing in the area or a potential sale in the area, and so on).
In the Ward 5 By Election, there are a few candidates who are real estate agents or studying to become real estate agents. These candidates need to explain to voters now how they will attempt to balance their profession and their council responsibilities.
If a Council member is declaring a conflict of interest on a significant percentage of Council votes, then what use is there in this person occupying a Council seat? It would be better to follow Sponga's example and step aside, allowing an unencumbered representative to do the job representing constituents on each and every issue before the Council.
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